We had signed up for a cycling trip to the wine area for the next day but we gave our tickets away to students on the ship and hired a cab again instead. We first went to Table Mountain where we boarded a round cable car that can carry 65 visitors at a time or 400 visitors per hour. The floor rotates 360 degrees giving panoramic views for all to see Cape Town and the harbor and beautiful scenery in every direction. The cable cars carry 4000 liters of water in a tank below the floor of the cabin which is used for ballast during the windy season. When it isn’t windy they empty the water at the upper station. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful from the top and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to go up there.
Next we were off to visit the wine country where we stopped at a cheetah outreach center. They had an area you could go into with a guide and pet a cheetah. Dave and I opted not to do this but I have pictures of Carol and John petting a cheetah. John also went into an area where he put on a heavy glove baited with meat and an flew owl flew over and landed on his hand. I don’t think he heard the doctor on our ship say “Don’t get bit”. Neat picture opportunity though. The cheetah is Africa’s most threatened great cat because of loss of habitat and decrease in prey.
Our next stop was for lunch in Stellenbosch which is a cute town in the middle of the wine country. While sitting along the sidewalk having lunch, two black men and a little boy came along and sang for us while the little guy did his imitation of Michael Jackson. Not very good but so cute. I will try to include their picture in this blog. There was a grocery store next to the restaurant so I went in to buy a few things and discovered they sell wine in the store. There was a local man buying wine so I asked for his advice on what was a good merlot and then I found a women working in the wine section that also helped me. I ended up buying 8 bottles of different merlots to try. We have been buying wine at each port to have in our room before dinner each night and have had some awful ones. Last night we tried one of our new ones and it was great.
Finally we reached a winery. As we were driving in we saw zebras, wildebeest, and ostriches penned in along the road. There was a beautiful park behind the winery where we saw a wedding going on. Beyond there was a place where they had lions in pens. Baby lions were lying against the fence with paws sticking out for us to touch and pet. Again I passed but John and Carol each petted and enjoyed being up close with them. I don’t think Carol heard the doctor either. She actually petted the cheek of the baby lion and got bit on the finger but it didn’t break the skin. There was also a female white lion here. Heading back to the winery from our encounter with the lions we passed a pear orchard with beautiful fruit hanging from the tree branches. We had planned to rent bicycles here but it turned out they had all been rented out and we didn’t have time anyway. Didn’t even end up tasting wine but had a great time. Couldn’t buy any more wine because we are only allowed to bring two bottles per person on the ship at each port. Between John, Carol, Dave and I, we already had our limit from the grocery store where it was probably cheaper than at the winery and just as good. I saw ostrich eggs for sale in the grocery store. If one egg is scrambled it can feed six people.
When unpacking our backpack in our room that evening I discovered my camera was missing. I thought it had probably fallen out of my pocket in the cab we had been riding in all day. I love having my camera with me at all times. Never know what I might see. So Dave and I walked to the shopping area across from our ship where there was a camera store. We picked out a camera a little better than the one I had but still small enough to fit in my pocket. We were leaving for our safari early the next morning and Dave didn’t want me without a camera for that adventure and I didn’t want to take a chance of not having one either. I didn’t like losing my camera but was more upset about losing the pictures I had been taking that day. Luckily our cab driver had given me a card and John had a cell phone so we were able to call him around 9:30 PM that evening. He found the camera on the back seat of his car and he was at the gate to our ship with it when we were leaving for our safari at 6:00 AM that next morning. He was sitting with his friend and I asked if they were brothers. They answered by asking me if I thought they looked alike. I said they both had brown eyes. They laughed and said one was Christian and the other Muslim but they still like and sit next to each other. Isn’t that the way it should be? I think it is good when we can each accept each other’s differences.
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